chili. i excel at chili. i've been lately fine-tuning my recipe, trying to create a version sufficiently mild for the tastes of certain potential dinner guests. tonight i used 1.3 lbs. extra-lean ground beef (i do prefer buffalo, but couldn't find any), one medium yellow onion, one red bell pepper, five cloves of garlic, a bay leaf, a couple of tablespoons of freshly ground cumin, a couple of teaspoons of mexican oregano, some black pepper and a scant handful of sea salt. to this i added the following dried chiles, freshly ground: two negro, two guajillo, one mulato, one ancho, one new mexico, one california, one cascabel. having mixed this in and determined that indeed, it would be suitably mild should the need arise, i then added three chiles de arbol for my own satisfaction.
once this was all nicely mixed, i poured in 8 or 10 oz. of red wine and let it simmer a few minutes before adding a 28-oz. can of plum tomatoes, crushed on arrival. and now, it simmers. it tastes truly divine.
i am left to ponder as it simmers: what sort of beans? i have black beans, kidney beans, and pinto beans. any one of them would do, but i need to determine the ideal choice for this particular chili. no two chilies are alike, you know. it's a little different every time.
cornbread with, i think. and sour cream.
addendum: alas, i'm out of eggs, so no cornbread. also, it started to go mild on me so i added three chiles japones for a little extra kick. perfecto.
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